Karl Julius Perleb (20 June 1794, Konstanz – 8 June 1845,

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population o ...

) (also known as Carl Julius Perleb) was a German

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

and natural scientist.

Life

From 1809 to 1811, Karl Julius Perleb studied at the University of Freiburg and earned a doctorate in

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and in 1815 a degree in medicine. He lived in Vienna for a brief period of time. In 1818 he returned to the University of Freiburg and began a post-doctoral fellowship. He remained at the university for the remainder of his life. He became an

associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a ...

of natural history in 1821, and in 1823 he became a full professor. From 1828 to 1845 he served as director of the Freiburg Botanical Garden. In 1838 he was appointed prorector at Freiburg University. He left his library and

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sheet of paper (called ...

to the university, together with money for its administration and for travel grants for young scholars of the natural sciences.ADB:Perleb, Karl Julius
at

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...

Work

Perleb was an author of numerous scientific publications and was a friend of Freiburg historian

Heinrich Schreiber Heinrich Schreiber (14 July 1793, in Freiburg im Breisgau – 29 November 1872, in Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German Catholic theologian and historian, known for his writings about the city of Freiburg. He studied at the University of Freibur ...

. He worked on the natural method of the

classification of plants Plant taxonomy is the science that finds, identifies, describes, classifies, and names plants. It is one of the main branches of taxonomy (the science that finds, describes, classifies, and names living things). Plant taxonomy is closely allied ...

. In 1818 he translated de Candolle's ''Essai sur les propriétés médicales des plantes comparées avec leur classification naturelle'' into German as ''Versuch über die Arzneikräfte der Pflanzen, verglichen mit den äußeren Formen und der natürlichen Classeneintheilung derselben'', with additions and comments. This was followed in 1826 by his ''Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte des Pflanzenreichs'' in which he developed his own classification, based on that of de Candolle, but further developing the idea of a hierarchy in which

orders Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

were introduced as a rank between families and classes. He divided de Candolle's

Calyciflorae Calyciflorae is a grouping of plants that is no longer used by botanists. Augustin Pyramus de Candolle defined it as a subclass within the class Dicotyledoneae. It overlapped largely with the modern Rosids group. The group Calyciflorae was define ...

into those with either fused of free petals and increased his number of subclasses by one. He then developed a key to the diagnostic ranks, updated from the ''Lehrbuch'', his ''Clavis classium, ordinum et familiarum atque index generum regni vegetabilis'' (1838), following the method of

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

. In his system, there were 9 classes, 48 orders and 330 families. A second part of the ''Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte'', the ''Lehrbuch der Zoologie'' was published in 1831. He also published an account of the botanical garden at Freiburg, ''De horto botanico Friburgensi'' (1829)

List of selected publications

''Sources''Biodiversity Heritage Library
published works * ''Versuch über die Arzneikräfte der Pflanzen, verglichen mit den äußeren Formen und der natürlichen Classeneintheilung derselben'' (1818) * ''Conspectus methodi plantarum naturalis in usum auditorum typis exscribi curavit'' (1822) * * ''De Horto Botanico Friburgensi'' (1829)
''Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte: Lehrbuch der Zoologie''
(1831–1835) *

Legacy

The botanical genus ''Perlebia'' (synonym '' Bauhinia'') is named in his honor.

References

Bibliography

*
Bibliography of Karl Julius Perleb, Bayerische StaatsBibliothek

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perleb, Karl Julius 1794 births 1845 deaths 19th-century German botanists University of Freiburg faculty University of Freiburg alumni People from Konstanz